Editing Battles of Saratoga (section)

===French aid===
Once news of Burgoyne's surrender reached [[Kingdom of France|France]],  King [[Louis XVI]] decided to enter into negotiations with the Americans that resulted in a formal [[Franco-American alliance]] and French entry into the war.<ref name="Hubbard, Robert Ernest p. 62">Hubbard, Robert Ernest.  ''General Rufus Putnam: George Washington's Chief Military Engineer and the "Father of Ohio,"'' p. 62, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina.  {{ISBN|978-1476678627}}.</ref> This moved the conflict onto a global stage.<ref name="K405_48">[[#Ketchum|Ketchum (1997)]], pp. 405–448</ref> As a consequence, Britain was forced to divert resources used to fight the war in North America to theaters in the [[West Indies]] and [[Europe]], and rely on what turned out to be the chimera of Loyalist support in its North American operations.<ref name="K447">[[#Ketchum|Ketchum (1997)]], p. 447</ref>  Having been defeated by the British in the [[French and Indian War]] more than a decade earlier, France found an opportunity to undercut British power and ultimately of revenge by aiding the colonists throughout the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. Prior to the Battle of Saratoga, France did not fully aid the colonists. However, after the Battles of Saratoga were conclusively won by the colonists, France realized that the Americans had the hope of winning the war, and began fully aiding the colonists by sending soldiers, donations, loans, military arms, and supplies.<ref>{{cite web|last=Perkins|first=James|title=France in the Revolution|url=http://www.americanrevolution.org/frcon.html|access-date=2013-06-29|archive-date=2011-02-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227125013/http://www.americanrevolution.org/frcon.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Hubbard, Robert Ernest p. 62"/>